Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

Jesus “entered the temple and began ejecting the traders.” –Luke 19:45 Jesus has made it clear that He wants His temple purified (see also 1 Mc 4:36). Jesus commands us to be pure, even “as He is pure” (1 Jn 3:3). Jesus is purifying His Church “in the bath of water by the power of the word, to present to Himself a glorious church, holy and immaculate, without stain or wrinkle or anything of that sort” (Eph 5:26-27). “By obedience to the truth,” we can purify ourselves “for a genuine love” of our brothers and sisters (1 Pt 1:22). The...

“Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed. There he remained many days, overwhelmed with sorrow, for he knew he was going to die.” –1 Maccabees 6:8-9 Before King Antiochus died, he looked back over his reign and observed: “I was kindly and beloved in my rule” (1 Mc 6:12). King Antiochus thought he was a “nice guy” and benevolent king although he: killed mothers with their babies hung from their necks (1 Mc 1:60-61), cut out the tongues of some of his opponents (2 Mc 7:4), scalped and cut off the hands and feet...

“God forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.” –1 Maccabees 2:21 Mass Readings: November 23 First: Sirach 50:22-24; Resp: Psalm 138:1-5; Second: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Gospel: Luke 17:11-19 Listen to the Mass Readings How do we relate to the opposition in our daily life? What do we read? Who do we listen to? We are to kill the enemy, that is, the temptation within, by our zeal to obey God’s law and be purified, to cast out that which leads us away from the Lord (see 1 Mc 2:26). People “make a covenant with death” (Is 28:15)...

“Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.” –2 Maccabees 7:20 Mass Readings: November 22 First: 2 Maccabees 7:1,20-31; Resp: Psalm 17:1,5-6,8,15; Gospel: Luke 19:11-28 Listen to the Mass Readings The Seleucids who persecuted the Jewish people at the time of the Maccabean revolt were terrorists. They did not just kill seven Jewish brothers but scalped, dismembered, and fried them one by one, while forcing the remaining brothers and their mother to watch every brutal act. The...

“Today salvation has come to this house, for this is what it means to be a son of Abraham.” –Luke 19:9 Mass Readings: November 21 First: 2 Maccabees 6:18-31; Resp: Psalm 3:2-7; Gospel: Luke 19:1-10 Listen to the Mass Readings When salvation came to Zacchaeus and his house, Zacchaeus was moved to say: “I give half my belongings, Lord, to the poor” (Lk 19:8). This expression of salvation has been common throughout Church history. Jesus loved and challenged a man by saying to him: “There is one thing more you must do. Go and sell what you have and give...